Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe invited his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to a scenic resort by Mt. Fuji on Sunday for a luncheon as a token of gratitude for accommodating him in the Indian leader’s home state during last year’s visit.
It is the first time that Abe has invited a foreign political leader to his holiday home in the village of Narusawa in the prefecture.
Modi’s latest visit to Japan began a day after Abe held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.
Japan and India, together with the United States, have been boosting defense cooperation to counter China’s growing influence in the region, with the three countries conducting naval exercises regularly in the Indian Ocean.
“The India-Japan partnership has been fundamentally transformed and it has been strengthened as a ‘special strategic and global partnership’,” Modi said. “There are no negatives but only opportunities in this relationship which are waiting to be seized.”
